OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City, 31 May 2013 (VIS) – Today the Holy Father:

   - appointed Bishop Sergio Osvaldo Buenanueva as bishop of the Diocese of San Francisco (area 19,611, population 222,000, Catholics 217,000, priests 40, religious 34), Argentina. Bishop Buenanueva was previously auxiliary of Mendoza, Argentina, and titular of Rusubbicari. On the Argentine Episcopal Conference he currently serves as president of the Commission for Ministers.

   - appointed Fr. Jean-Pierre Delville as bishop of Liege (area 3,862, population 1,044,000, Catholics 213,987, priests 33, religious 94), Belgium. The bishop-elect, of the clergy of the same diocese, was born in Liege in 1951 and was ordained a priest in 1980. Since ordination he has served in several pastoral and academic roles, most recently as vicar of the parish of Saint-Lambert in Liege and tenured professor in the Theology Faculty of the Universite catholique of Louvain in Louvain-le-Neuve, Belgium. He succeeds Bishop Aloysius Jousten, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

   - appointed Fr. Peter Brown, C.Ss.R., as bishop of Samoa-Pago Pago (area 197, population 68,000, Catholics 14,000, priests 18, permanent deacons 27, religious 9), American Samoa. Bishop-elect Brown was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1947 and was ordained a priest in 1981. Since ordination he has served in several pastoral, missionary, and institutional roles, most recently as regional superior of the Redemptorist Fathers in New Zealand. He succeeds Bishop John Quinn Weitzel, M.M., whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

   - accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Cochabamba, Bolivia, presented by Bishop Angel Gelmi Bertocchi, titular of Forum Clodii, upon having reached the age limit.

   - accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the Diocese of Motherwell, Scotland, presented by Bishop Joseph Devine, upon having reached the age limit.